Counter. Right hook to the ribcage. 

I feel the massive impact on my knuckles as it connects to the bone. It is as if a shockwave sounded through both of our bodies.

Success.

The crowd violently cheers, screeching and screaming. It's nice to hear the mob of people screaming your name especially. They surround the metallic arena, the only thing keeping them from being in the way was the impenetrable glass. Step by step, it was nice feeling the cool, smooth padding that covered the wooden stage. At times it felt unstable, and it was relaxing to know it wasn’t. It’s always nice to hear the crowd scream your name. 

Mamu! Mamu! Mamu!

The moment my adversary felt the blow, he instantly held his side gasping for air. He stumbled, tripping over his own feet resulting in a fall straight forward right onto his stomach which would expose only his bare back. As he fell, I thought of the millions of ways I could take advantage of this moment. 

I could drive a fist into his spine still pushing long after I make contact with his skin which may result in unparalleled pain and injury.

Too much.

I could drop a jumping elbow into his back which would do the perfect amount of damage without being too excessive. However, it could be easy to screw up due to the precise angle rotation I would have to do in the 2.35 seconds I would be in the air.

Too risky.

I could jump as high as I could, nailing my right knee into his back which would only pinpoint one side of his back. 

Perfect.

I did just that, blowing my jet, black hair upwards to get it out of the way, I jumped 5 feet into the air, getting into a kneeling position airborne, and securing the strike with my tan knee close to his appendix. 

My opponent let out a wild scream of agony and was instantly knocked out. The sound of the bell rang signaling that the match had been won.

“AND THE WINNER OF TONIGHT’S FIST FIGHT WITH A SCORE OF 3 - 0 IS THE ONE AND ONLY, MAMU!”

The roars of the crowd were deafening, and it brought a smirk to my face.

I look to the right and a metal door swings open revealing my one exit. As I made my way there, I heard a voice behind me.

“You were too good. It wasn’t even a fight.”

I look back to see my opponent, Jack Swanson, bloodied up, but with a smile on his face. 

“I’m sorry man. I really hope that the final knee didn’t rupture your appendix,” I told him smiling back.

I exit, throwing my hands up to the crowd happily enjoying the glory. The glory that not many other people have been able to experience. I look upon them feeling all mighty. It felt wonderful although I’ve felt this exact feeling many times before. 

“That was one fight, Mr. Mamu.”

I glance to the left and I come face to face with my manager.

“Yeah, thanks, Conan,” I replied.

“Here’s the victory money that was promised. Wasn’t surprised you won once again,” Conan spoke.

Conan hands me a briefcase that seemed to be about 4 inches wide. I clutch it with both of my hands carefully as if it would break if I dropped it. I walk into the dark, green colored hallway and I take a swift right straight into the fighter waiting room. I look around for any empty seats, and there just happens to be one on the delicate, red sofa which was directly behind a fragile glass table. I take a seat there, placing the briefcase onto the table.

I grab the briefcase, turning it towards me, and I slowly open it, anticipating the amount of money I was promised before the match. I felt relief when it had the exact quantity indicated.

50 grand… what a crazy cash-in, I thought.

I glimpse up and I notice that Conan had just walked into the room. He looks at me with concerned eyes.

“You look awfully tired man. There’s no more fights scheduled for today, so you can go home now. Before you do though, here.”

I look down at Conan’s hand and he has a huge stack of 100 dollar bills.

“Ringmaster said that since you weren’t even hit once in that match, he’d give you extra. It’s another 10 grand,” Conan explained. 

“Well ain’t that a surprise,” I said with a smile, “Thanks, man.”

Conan nods, and he leaves the room.

I hadn’t noticed it before, but I felt exhausted. Guess the adrenaline finally wore off.

I decide that that was that, and I exit the underground arena through the thick, dark corridor.

After exiting the corridor, I was greeted with the noise of a subway station. It was crowded today, so it was much louder than usual. The entrance to the Fist Club was a hidden door located right behind the staircase leading down to the station. I take the stairs up, stomping quite loudly as I did. Right in front of the stairs was the bright street and alley. Although it was 11 p.m, the street was still bright due to the massive, neon building signs and the streetlights. The streetlights blinded me at first, glowing its natural auras of green and red. After being in the dark for so long, it took me a while to get used to it.  The pouring rain wasn’t helping either. I walked to the right to find my car which was parked on the side of the street. Upon finding it, I get in and I take the 30 minute drive home. 

  …

I arrived at my destination where it was raining even harder than at the subway station. I’m instantly soaked after getting out of the car for mere seconds. I run as quickly as I can to the front door of my house, and I fumble to take out the keys. The house had a modern aesthetic to it with solid, white walls, and its reflective glassy appearance surrounding the outside. Its pitch black head that I’m lucky enough to call a roof. I successfully take out my keys, and I unlock the door.

Just as I open the front door, I look straight ahead to see my wife staring straight at me.

“Didn’t even bother to open the door?” I joked.

“What’s the matter with you!” She demanded, “ You told me that you were completely done with that stupid club!”

“It was just one more match. I was able to scoop in more money that I usually get for these fights,” I tried to explain.

“That doesn’t matter,” she waved off, “I have been worried sick, and I figured there was only one place you would be at this time of night. You do know that if you’re caught, you’re gonna be imprisoned.”

“Look, this is the last time you’ll see me this way. I just figured it was one of the only ways we could get some extra cash especially with the troubles lately,” I said ashamedly, “Is she asleep?”

“She was tucked in 2 hours ago,” my wife said sternly as her blue eyes stared into mine. Her smooth, dark brown hair was still undone which I found a little weird knowing that she takes pretty good care of herself.

“Alright. Tomorrow it’s gonna be just us. You, our daughter, and me, and we’ll just spend the entirety of it together. Luckily it’s the weekend.”

“Fine then. Go get dressed and go get some rest,” she voiced, rolling her eyes.

I changed my clothes into my house clothes and I got into bed, immediately falling asleep. 

RING. RING. RING.

I woke up with a jolt just to hear my phone ringing. I grab it, and I answer it.

“H..hello?” I said, still out of it.

“Man, pack your stuff and get back here, NOW!” the voice said.

I recognized it to be Conan’s. 

“What are you talking about, dude? What time is it?”

“It’s roughly 3:00 am, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact that you were just given another chance to fight. I know you told me that last match was the LAST, but this is massive. Ringmaster notified me to tell you that you’ve got a chance at fighting one of the best of the best for a $500,000 prize for just being there! It's double if you win!”

“I…” I let out a sigh, “Fine. I’ll be there.”

Something was telling me just to stay put, but it was $1,000,000 if I win, and I know that I can. I grabbed the same clothes I had on before, and wore them. From here on, I do the same exact thing as last time, just in reverse.

Arriving in the dark corridor, I see Conan chilling at the entrance. His eyes light up as he sees me. 

“Good thing you’re here. We are gonna make some large bank off of this,” Conan excitedly spoke.

“Yeah well it’ll hopefully be an easy fight. I’m the best here, so fighting one of the best from elsewhere should be pretty easy.”

“Speaking facts right there.”

At the end of the corridor, the entrance to the arena was already wide open with a crowd so massive that you could see them from miles away. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger crowd, man,” I said to Conan.

“Yeah. Me neither.”

I approached the entrance to the ring, and I noticed that there were various objects inside. There wasn’t too much that it looked packed, but it certainly looked concerning. 

“Someone forget to take out the stuff from the last match?” I said jokingly. 

A man to my right proceeded towards me. 

“I’m going to assume you know what the prize is, so I’m just going to state the rules. This match is going to be hardcore. Means anything goes until someone strikes 3 points. Anywhere from the waist up is legal for a point. Shots to the arms and anywhere below the waist don’t count. If someone gets knocked out or worse, other fighter wins. Enter whenever you’re ready,” the man carefully explained.

Thoughts arose in my mind. 

This certainly isn’t the match I was expecting.

I figured that I was ready, and I entered the arena only to be greeted by a man on the opposing side. A man who seemed to be about 7 feet with an extremely well built body. The fact that he was 2 feet taller than me was making me question things.

“WELCOME TO AN EARLY MORNING FIST FIGHT!” The announcer screamed.

The crowd went berserk. 

“On the right side of the ring, we have last night’s winner of the main fist fight. The man who hasn’t even been scored against once in his entire fist fight history. TONIGHT WE HAVE MAMU!”

The crowd cheered my name.

“On the left side of the ring, we have an undefeated champion from New York. He’s feared from most parts of the world known for breaking body parts relentlessly, and destroying his opponents. He’s even put a few into body bags.  TONIGHT WE HAVE, NITE!”
The crowd screeched crazily.

The bell sounded without warning, and Nite abruptly launched towards me. Although caught off guard, I immediately side-stepped to my right which caused Nite to slam right into the glass wall bouncing straight off of it. I look around to see all of the weapons they’ve given us. There were chairs, metal bats, batons, etc.

Nite came up right in front of me with his hands up. I keep my calm, and I think of all the ways I can punish his attacks. I noticed his right fist clenching up, so I immediately thought that he was going to give a right jab aimed at my face. 

He swung and I was right. Knowing this, I ducked down, rolling forward to grab the metal bat directly behind him. I successfully picked it up, and, catching him off guard, I swung as hard as I could onto his knee. I swear I could’ve heard something crack. He dropped to his knees to clench at it. I took it as a chance to score a point. I dropped the bat, and drove a right hook right into his jaw which caused him to spit blood because of the impact, and he fell face first onto the floor. 

“ONE POINT, MAMU!”

That was a direct punch to the side of his head. No way he was getting back up.

Just like that, he popped right back up to his feet smiling. 

“That’s the way”, I heard him utter.

Nite approached me once again with his hands up. I attempted to act out aggressively, to pressure him into messing up. I threw out a few fake punches which got him to dodge left, which I was hoping for. I roughly grabbed his head with both hands, forced it downwards, and I jumped whilst getting into a kneeling position striking him with a hard knee to the face.

Success.

He fell backwards groaning, bleeding from his mouth.I felt a sharp pain in my knee. I looked down to see a tooth stuck in it. Only a little bit of the tooth was showing, so I figured it would be a pain trying to take out.

“ANOTHER POINT, MAMU! ONE POINT REMAINING!”

I yanked out the tooth, but it's dislodge caused profuse bleeding. 

That was buried deep.

I must’ve taken too long taking it out, because when I looked back up, I felt an agonizing pain in my left jaw sending me flying to my right, and there I landed on my right arm.

“INCREDIBLE! IT SEEMS THAT NITE HAS SCORED A POINT AGAINST THE UNTOUCHABLE!”

This can’t be.

The feeling of losing rushed over me. 

I can’t let this bring me down.

I got back up, spitting out the blood that rushed from the side of my mouth. 

Nite ran towards me with a steel chair. I jumped in the air, threw my right leg forward and my left leg backward, and kicked the chair right back into his face.

He stumbled a bit with that smile of his completely gone. 

I striked at his chest, which he countered with a block pushing my hand outward.

He punched at my skull which I successfully ducked under.  

We took turns returning punches and kicks which we only countered.

All of a sudden, I noticed something. In the corridor, Conan was seen to be arguing with someone who seemed to be the ringmaster. The ringmaster’s guards then attacked Conan, brutalizing him, then dragged him into the darkness.

This was enough to completely distract me, and I was brought back to reality when Nite struck me with a blow at his full force to my nose which caused me to launch backwards a huge distance.

“THIS WAS NOT TO BE EXPECTED! NIX HAS TIED THIS FIGHT UP!”

The thoughts arose as to why Conan had received that beating. 

Maybe he said something dumb again.

Nah, this is one of the most important events in his life. No way he screwed it up.

It just sucked that I was caught off guard by it. I could’ve just looked any other way. Unless… they knew I would get distracted.

As I got back up, Nite was rushing at me, successfully knocking me backwards once more. He was just brute force. Nite then backed up. It was weird at first since he seemed to have all of the control at the moment,but then it all made sense when he picked up the metal bat. 

Oh no.

I tried utilizing a back kick, but he only dodged it, and in doing so he kicked at my knee. This brought me to them, and he winded his arms back with the baseball bat, ready to strike. I expected this so I was ready to duck down and roll away. Then, a voice sounded from the hallway.

“HE WAS ALWAYS GONNA WIN!”

That was that. The bat immediately connected to the side of my head.

…

I woke up later stuck on a bed with some IV bags and my head covered in bandages. Everything was fuzzy. I looked around and I saw people I haven’t seen before. A man got up from his seat, and walked up to me. He looked beat up pretty badly. He wore a hat that covered his eyes. He was slim and looked about 6 feet tall. 

“It was rigged from the beginning,” the man quietly said.

“What was rigged?” I said softly.

The man looked at me with concerned eyes.

“W…w.. what do you mean? Wait…” the man said in a panicked voice, “T…tell me what my name is.”

I instantly felt weak.

“I can’t remember…”

That was all I could muster until I fell back asleep once again.